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Thought box: EMV & thee

This collection of chip card-related articles includes the feature stories most read by small businesses like yours here on Vantiv.com.

Four individual articles and two compilations, including the study guide, EMV made easier for SMB—a study guide, as well as the National Small Business Week feature, Do you need EMV?, are designed to help you with everything from EMV basics to some of the very specific reasons why you should move to chip card acceptance.

Let's start at the beginning. There's no EMV "mandate"—you're not required to upgrade to chip card acceptance. But there are some realities that you should be aware of before you experience the bite in your wallet. First, the October 1, 2015 fraud liability shift. It's on and it's real. Essentially, and as of that date, liability for fraudulent point-of-sale transactions shifts in the direction of the party least EMV enabled. There are few scenarios under which you will shoulder the chargeback associated with transactions claimed to be fraudulent if you're not able or ready to accept and process chip card transactions.

While many smaller businesses have seen themselves as immune from likely chargebacks, reports suggest that even the smallest businesses have experienced EMV-related chargebacks for even small-dollar amounts.

The time to EMV readiness will be determined by your own processing configuration and the readiness of providers you work with. For those using stand-alone terminals, upgrading to EMV-enabled ones is often the fastest path to EMV readiness. And, in most instances, those upgrade terminals also feature available near field communication (NFC)—the technology that allows you to accept mobile wallets such as Android Pay and Apple Pay.